Fortunata House / Luciano Lerner Basso

Fortunata House / Luciano Lerner Basso - Exterior PhotographyFortunata House / Luciano Lerner Basso - Interior Photography, Dining room, Windows, Beam, ChairFortunata House / Luciano Lerner Basso - Exterior Photography, DoorFortunata House / Luciano Lerner Basso - Exterior PhotographyFortunata House / Luciano Lerner Basso - More Images+ 28

Caxias do Sul, Brazil
  • Area Area of this architecture project Area:  240
  • Year Completion year of this architecture project Year:  2020
  • Photographs
  • Manufacturers Brands with products used in this architecture project
    Manufacturers:  Broilo Aquecimento, Dimibu, Esquadrias Moschetta, Incepa, Isomaf, Lajeadense Vidros, Madereira Perimetral, Noppin do Brasil, Pezzi Produtos Elétricos, Polimix Concreto, Roca, Sika Brasil, Trevizzo Vidros
  • Architect In Charge: Luciano Lerner Basso
  • Installations: Roberto Basso
  • Structural Project: André Granzotto
  • City: Caxias do Sul
  • Country: Brazil
More SpecsLess Specs
Fortunata House / Luciano Lerner Basso - Exterior Photography
© Manuel Sá

Text description provided by the architects. FORTUNATA, adj. fem. from the Italian language: one that has been touched by luck. A house built around a tree, where reason is the main instrument in the search for the spirit of living.

Fortunata House / Luciano Lerner Basso - Exterior Photography
© Manuel Sá
Fortunata House / Luciano Lerner Basso - Exterior Photography
© Manuel Sá

Located in the extreme south of Brazil, Fortunata house is a project that highlights the essential activities of Architecture: the careful reading of the environmental conditions; the precise determination of the construction processes; the correct resolution of the program of demands; and the harmony of the built forms. 

Fortunata House / Luciano Lerner Basso - Exterior Photography
© Manuel Sá

Built in a traditional, open neighborhood, the house was implanted around a huge Araucaria Angustifolia tree. The access from the sidewalk to the entrance of the house is through a winding path of soil and gravel, the street enters the courtyard and extends to the entrance door. There are no walls, only a diaphanous metallic screen. There is the intention that the floor of the house is the same as the floor of the city; the desire to create urban spaces without barriers, to visually integrate the public and the private.

Fortunata House / Luciano Lerner Basso - Exterior Photography
© Roberta Gewehr
Fortunata House / Luciano Lerner Basso - Image 25 of 33
Lower floor plan
Fortunata House / Luciano Lerner Basso - Interior Photography, Beam
© Manuel Sá

Its insertion in the landscape is a direct response to the constraints of the place. Aiming at a minimum intervention in the topography, the main volume is supported by a piloti that delicately touches the ground and adapts to the natural conformation of the terrain. All the material resulting from the excavation of the foundations was used; the earth was used as an embankment for the vehicle maneuvering area; the stones were used in the construction of the retaining walls and landscaping elements. The native vegetation was preserved almost in its entirety. If it were possible for a huge crane to lift the house and land it somewhere else, the original terrain would remain practically intact, with no traces of the construction.

Fortunata House / Luciano Lerner Basso - Exterior Photography, Door
© Manuel Sá

Designed for a young couple, Fortunata's programmatic division is simple: on the lower level, under the pilotis, there is a carport; entering the house are the vestibule and the laundry room. On the upper level, from the geometric union of four rectangles, a structurally open plan was designed, where the separation between the functions of living, working, and sleeping is given by the spatial condition generated by the server nucleus and by the use of light elements. There are no dead-end corridors or closed spaces for socializing. Circulation is a continuous movement that permeates flexible and multifunctional environments. This condition allows the house to assume different configurations and to follow the owners' life changes.

Fortunata House / Luciano Lerner Basso - Interior Photography, Beam
© Manuel Sá
Fortunata House / Luciano Lerner Basso - Interior Photography, Dining room, Windows, Beam, Chair
© Manuel Sá
Fortunata House / Luciano Lerner Basso - Image 30 of 33
Section DD
Fortunata House / Luciano Lerner Basso - Image 29 of 33
Section CC
Fortunata House / Luciano Lerner Basso - Interior Photography, Bedroom
© Manuel Sá

Completing the program, three verandas built using the wood used in the concrete formwork connect the house to the back patio; they expand the living room towards the landscape. Without curtains or visual barriers between inside and outside, the dweller has permanent contact with nature. At the same time he lives in the house, he also lives in the forest.

Fortunata House / Luciano Lerner Basso - Interior Photography
© Roberta Gewehr
Fortunata House / Luciano Lerner Basso - Interior Photography, Beam
© Roberta Gewehr
Fortunata House / Luciano Lerner Basso - Image 26 of 33
Upper floor plan
Fortunata House / Luciano Lerner Basso - Interior Photography, Stairs
© Manuel Sá

The exposed concrete molded-in loco is used as the total material. It is in the structure, in the closings, in the stair steps, and even in the fixed furniture. A material that ages with the same beauty as nature, resists well to bad weather, and requires little maintenance, even in the humidity of the forest. Besides, it is a very common system in the region, with plenty of skilled labor and construction costs lower than other systems with the same virtues. A structure that shows itself raw and reveals a construction process that, at the same time is rigorous and precise, also shows the perfect imperfections of handmade work. A work where matter and technique are indivisible.

Fortunata House / Luciano Lerner Basso - Exterior Photography
© Manuel Sá
Fortunata House / Luciano Lerner Basso - Exterior Photography
© Manuel Sá

We designed a silent architecture that maintains a clear dialogue with nature, either through its opaque walls that in the harsh southern winter blends in with the fog, or by the way the forest is reflected in its glass on blue sky days. Its plastic quality lies in the relationships between planes, voids, lights, landscape, and textures. A project that expands the field of architecture itself and brings reflections on the relationships between house and city, between man and nature.

Fortunata House / Luciano Lerner Basso - Exterior Photography, Beam
© Manuel Sá

In dealing with the sustainable aspects, besides the minimal intervention in the existing vegetation and topography, we underline the use of reforested wood in the concrete formwork; re-use of this wood for the construction of the verandas; cross ventilation in all environments of continuous use; high-performance frames with thermal cutting; double glazing; thermal insulation with EPS in the floor and roof slabs; treatment of the exposed concrete with solvent-free products; heating system powered by ecological fuel; use of rainwater for irrigation; natural lighting in all rooms, including the use of skylights; artificial lighting made entirely with low consumption light bulbs, including automation for controlling external lighting.

Fortunata House / Luciano Lerner Basso - Exterior Photography, Facade
© Manuel Sá

Project gallery

See allShow less
About this office
Cite: "Fortunata House / Luciano Lerner Basso" [Casa Fortunata / Luciano Lerner Basso] 11 Feb 2022. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/976612/fortunata-house-luciano-lerner-basso> ISSN 0719-8884

© Manuel Sá

Fortunata 幸运儿之家 / Luciano Lerner Basso

You've started following your first account!

Did you know?

You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors, offices and users.